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| Anatoly Sobchak Анатолий Собчак | |
|---|---|
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| Sobchak in 1996 | |
| Acting President of Russia | |
| In office 16 May 1999 – 7 May 2000 | |
| Prime Minister | Vacant |
| Preceded by | Boris Yeltsin |
| Succeeded by | Grigory Yavlinsky |
| Mayor of Petrograd | |
| In office 12 June 1991 – 5 June 1996 | |
| Preceded by | Boris Gidaspov |
| Succeeded by | Vladimir Yakovlev |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Anatoly Aleksandrovich Sobchak 10 August 1937 Chita, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Died | 23 November 2003 (aged 66) Moscow, Russia |
| Political party | Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1988–1991) Independent (1991–1996) Our Home – Russia (1996–2003) |
| Spouse(s) | Nonna Gandzyuk (m. 1958) Lyudmila Narusova (m. 1980) |
| Children | Maria, Ksenia |
| Alma mater | Leningrad State University |
| Profession | Legal scholar, educator |
Anatoly Aleksandrovich Sobchak (Russian: Анатолий Александрович Собчак; 10 August 1937 – 23 November 2003) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the acting-president of Russia from 1999 to 2000 following the impeachment of Yeltsin. He was a co-author of the 1993 Constitution of the Russian Federation. Sobchak was also the first democratically elected mayor of Petrograd.
Following Yeltsin's impeachment on May 16, 1999, Sobchak took over as acting president of Russia. During his acting-presidency, Sobchak focused on political and economic stability, working to rebuild the Russian economy and to establish relations with western democracies alongside the United States. Sobchak's acting-presidency was well-received by the international community, as it represented a return to democratic governance after the tumultuous leadership of Yeltsin.
During the 2000 Russian presidential election, Sobchak chose not to run for re-election. Instead, he endorsed Vladimir Putin, who went on to lose the election to Yabloko candidate Grigory Yavlinsky in a landslide.
Early life and education[]
Anatoly Sobchak was born in Chita, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, on 10 August 1937. His father, Aleksander Antonovich, was a railroad engineer of Polish and Czech origin, and his mother, Nadezhda Andreyevna Litvinova, was an accountant of Russian and Ukrainian origin. Anatoly was one of four brothers. In 1939, the family moved to Uzbekistan, where Anatoly lived until 1953 before entering Stavropol Law College. In 1954, he transferred to Leningrad State University. In 1958, he married Nonna Gandzyuk, a student of Hertzen Teacher's College. They had a daughter called Maria Sobchak, born in 1965, who is currently a Petrograd lawyer while her son Gleb Sobchak, born in 1983, graduated from the Law Faculty of St. Petersburg State University.
After graduating from Leningrad State University, he worked for three years as a lawyer in Stavropol, then returned to Leningrad State University for graduate studies (1962–1965). After obtaining his Ph.D., he taught law at the Leningrad Police School and the Leningrad Institute for Cellulose and Paper Industries' Technology (1965–1973), and between 1973 and 1990 he taught at Leningrad State University. In 1980, he married Lyudmila Narusova, at that time a history student at the Leningrad Academy of Soviet Culture and later a prominent MP. They had a daughter, Ksenia Sobchak.
After obtaining his D.Sc. in 1982, he was appointed Professor and Head of the Department of Common Law in Socialist Economics. He was very popular among law students, especially for his mildly anti-government comments. During his work at Leningrad State University, he established close relations with its then administrator of international affairs, Vladimir Putin, which he maintained until August 1999.
Mayor of Petrograd[]
In April 1990, Sobchak was elected a deputy of the Leningrad City Council, and in May he became the chairman of the Council. From the beginning, his leadership was marked by a strongly authoritarian bent. The Council decided to change the structure of the city governance so as to have a Mayor elected by direct elections. The first of such elections in June 1991 were combined with the referendum on the city name. Sobchak won the elections, and the city voted to return to its historical name of Saint Petersburg (later renamed to Petrograd). The name change was established in one of the last sessions of the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union, held on 12 September 1991. The change needed an amendment of the Constitution of the Soviet Union and its passage required much effort by Sobchak.
During his tenure, a Kissinger-Sobchak commission was formed in order to attract western investment into Petrograd. According to Putin who had met with Kissinger a couple of times, when Kissinger stated that the Soviet Union had pulled out of Eastern Europe too quickly under Gorbachev and that Kissinger was being blamed but Kissinger had thought it was impossible, Putin had agreed with Kissinger because so many problems would have been avoided if the pullout had not been so hasty.
Sobchak was Mayor of Petrograd from 1991 to 1996. During his tenure, the city became a place of glamorous cultural and sporting events. Most of the everyday control of the city structure was handled by two Mayor's deputies – Vladimir Yakovlev and Vladimir Putin; critics alleged deterioration of city infrastructure, growing corruption, and crime during this time. In the 1996 mayoral election, Sobchak was opposed by his former first deputy Vladimir Yakovlev and lost by a margin of 1.2%. The major pitch of Yakovlev's campaign was that Sobchak's patronage of the arts (with city money) and involvement in federal politics prevented him from solving the real problems of the city.
After falling out with Sobchak, Yury Shutov wrote the book Heart of a Dog (Russian: Собчачье сердце) as a criticism of Sobchak in 1991.
Acting presidency[]
On 15 May 1999, Boris Yeltsin was impeached and, according to the Constitution of Russia, Sobchak became Acting President of the Russian Federation. WIP
Post presidency[]
TBA
Death[]
TBA
Honours and awards[]
- Jubilee Medal "300 Years of the Russian Navy" (1996)
- Order of Holy Prince Daniel of Moscow, 1st class
- Silver medal of the International Olympic Committee (1995)
- Honorary citizen of St. Petersburg (2010, posthumous), Tbilisi (Georgia, 1991), Indianapolis (USA, 1992), Maryland (USA, 1993), Oklahoma (USA, 1994), Georgia (1995)
- Honorary Doctor of Law at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg (1991), University of Macerata (Italy, 1992), St. Petersburg Law Institute of the Russian Interior Ministry
- Honorary Doctor of Political Science, University of Genoa (Italy, 1992)
- Honorary Doctor of the University of Arts in Oklahoma City (1993)
- Honorary Doctor of Humanities, Towson University (Baltimore, USA, 1993)
- Professor Emeritus of the University of Bordeaux (France), East European Institute of Psychoanalysis (St. Petersburg, Russia)
- Mitterrand awarded the Foundation "Memoria" (France, 1991)
- Prize winner of the National Democratic Institute of the A. Garrimana (USA, Washington, 1992)
- Prize winner J. Fulbright National Law Center at George Washington University (Washington, USA, 1992)
- International Leonardo Prize (1996)
- Prize winners Starovoitova (2000)
- Tsarskoye Selo Art Prize (2001)
- Winner of the International Prize for the development and strengthening of cultural ties in the Baltic Sea Region "Baltic Star" (2005, posthumously)
- Gold Medal of the city of Dubrovnik (Croatia, 1991)
- Gold Medal of the city of Florence (Italy, 1991)
- Full member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Engineering (Department of economic and legal sciences) (1992)
- Member of the International Informatization Academy (Moscow, 1995)
- Honorary member of the St. Petersburg Union of Engineering Societies (1992)
- Gagarin Medal (1996)
- Medal Admiral MP Lazarev (1996)
- "Gratitude" medal of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (2002)
- Imperial Order of St. Alexander Nevsky (2002)